Fire in northern Penobscot County township destroys camp buildings

Crews extinguished the remaining embers Thursday of a fire that destroyed five camp buildings in T8 R7 WELS, located in northern Penobscot County.

A member of the public reported the fire to the public safety division around 3 p.m. Wednesday, according to Maine Forest Service Regional Ranger Bill Greaves.

By the time rangers were able to respond, the fire had already destroyed five buildings: three separate camp buildings and two outbuildings. One other structure, a camp, wasn’t damaged, he said.

Greaves said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but that it had started outside and progressed to the buildings. He said a major concern had been that the fire would spread to the wildlands outside the camp.

No one was injured in the fire, and no one was at the camp when it burned, according to Greaves.

Greaves said crews were still working to extinguish the fire Thursday morning. He said the structures that burned generated a lot of heat, and that the crew is “making sure every ember is out.”